Late season flat racing with all its attendant dangers of gluepot ground, horses going over the top and late season improvers is a notoriously hazardous business, so maybe Castanetta can emerge as the value bet of today`s £30,000 feature at Leopardstown.
The Dept of Agriculture Centenary Handicap has attracted a cross-channel topweight in Gaelic Storm who comes here on the back of victories at Newbury and Redcar.
Mark Johnston may be concentrating on Fruits Of Love`s Breeders` Cup preparation but his string are in noticeably good form and even off 9-12 Gaelic Storm`s chance must be respected.
Ranged against John Murtagh`s mount are some of the usual suspects of Irish sprinting including Tiger Royal and Zilina, who it could be argued are best over the minimum trip, and the classy filly Antinnaz.
In that company Castanetta`s each way chance may not be immediately obvious but there are some convincing points in her favour.
First is she will be racing onher favoured soft ground with a paltry 8st on her back and then there is the suspicion she will be suited by the drop back to six furlongs from a mile. At today`s distance there was nothing travelling better in last Sunday`s Naas Listed race but Castanetta eventually faded behind Molly-O.
Before that she`d run an eyecatching race behind her stable companion Cobourg Lodge in a Curragh Listed and since then Jim Gorman`s horses have only been advertising their wellbeing. Probably most convincing of all, however, will be a decent price.
Teenager Tom Queally has been one of the sensations of the current season with an impressive total of 27 winners and his impact can be gauged by many choosing to ignore the last run of his mount Thepointaboutitis in the Co-Op Handicap.
Pat Flynn`s horse was a well beaten favourite behind Zelden at the Curragh but is clearly better than that and is just 2lbs out of the handicap proper. The decisive factor for a lot of punters will be Queally on his back.
Major Force has 11lbs in hand of everything else on the ratings for the mile conditions race. Considering his Group race exploits last season, Major Force has been a major disappointment this term but should still be up to scoring in this company.
Galileo (by Sadlers Wells out of the Arc winner Urban Sea) is an almost automatic selection in the opener and maybe the ground Conti wasted by veering dramatically at the Curragh last time can make up for his 7lb winning penalty in the first part of the Tote handicap.
